


Short distances

by Unaflor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: But he is not just a friend, Drunk Remus, James and Peter are just mentioned actually, M/M, Marauders' Era, Sirius Black is a Good Friend, Young Remus Lupin, Young Sirius Black, if you know what i mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 18:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16203677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unaflor/pseuds/Unaflor
Summary: Remus is doing with the distance between them the same thing he does with Grimmauld Place when he laughs.





	Short distances

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [En las distancias cortas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/870390) by [Unaflor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unaflor/pseuds/Unaflor). 



> Hi there!  
> This is just a translation from a very old fic of mine. It might have some mistakes. If you see any, please let me know so I can fix it (:
> 
> Hope you enjoy it! I'll see you in the comments (or so I hope!).

Grimmauld place disappears a little bit from the edges to the center anytime Remus laughs like that: his head back, his hair falling in a brown mess, his little fangs shining. Sometimes, he bends a little, like he's a piece of paper, holding his stomach with one hand and begging, “Padfoot, please” as if Sirius could do anything to help. And he wouldn't. Even if he could, he wouldn't, and knowing this, Remus still begs.

Remus Lupin is not one of those people who is always laughing. That's James, his shoulders slightly shaking in an eternal vibration, his whole body always moving. James is made of spasms and laughter that makes other people laugh with him. Not Remus. Remus laughs softly, privately, he holds his laughter inside of his mouth and swallows. Except when he drinks too much beer, because then he does that thing, he laughs with all he has and Sirius thinks that's amusing, since Remus doesn't just laugh, he also falls slowly to one side and frowns while saying something like “For Merlin's sake, everything’s moving” or “this is so your fault, Black”.

Usually, if the four of them were together, Peter would laugh quietly and James would have to give Sirius those galleons they had bet because “The Perfect Prefect Remus Lupin doesn't get drunk”, and he would’ve been trying to be as discreet as he could be (which isn't much). But Sirius knows better. “Before a Prefect, Moony is a Marauder, y’know, and we all get drunk sometimes”, and he would say it with such a conviction, James would had to pretend he's not doubting himself.

That's how it would be any other day. They'd go back to the castle singing muggle songs and they would covered each other’s mouths while crossing the hallways, stepping on each other's robes and making each other fall every three steps and a half (they had counted them indeed).

Not today, though. Today there's just the two of them and Remus has closed his eyes as soon as he stopped laughing and he has let himself fall until his head found Sirius' shoulder, his skin under his jumper smelling vaguely of beer, cinnamon, chocolate. Remus’ hair tickles Sirius, and he has started feeling a sharp, heavy pain in that part of his body where Remus has become a lot of shadows and whispers. Yet, he wouldn’t move for the world that’s something he wouldn’t admit.  
  
“Y’know?” says Remus then. Music falls heavily upon Sirius’ eyelashes and he can't see it, but he imagines Remus is looking at him. “This is not how it should be”.

“Moony, when was the last time you saw me drunk after having just beer?” he replies, trying to come across funny. He believes he’s achieved it, because he can hear air coming off Remus’ mouth and Sirius is sure he made Moony smile.

“That's not what I meant” replies Remus quietly, and as if it was a massive effort, he moves away from Sirius’ shoulder, sitting down straight so he could look at Padfoot’s face. It's one of those looks with many colours that get outside of the eyes looking to get immediately inside of the eyes being looked. Or that's what Sirius feels, at least: that he has Remus eyes inside of him and they can see it all. Everything.

Remus’ hair is a mess on his forehead and that, at any other time, would made Sirius laugh.

“I know”.

Of course he knows. When did he not know what was going on around him? He refuses to think about every other time that he did not know a ridiculous amount of things, which is most of the time. But this, this is different. As if his dialogues with Remus weren't but one and only dialogue, a never-ending conversation they always go back to exactly where they left it the night before, just as school textbooks, but way more interesting.

Sirius knows what Remus means because at some point they stopped needing language to communicate. He simply knows. If said aloud, it would sound like “we are wasting any time we are not together”, more or less cheesy, depending on their moods.

Remus looks at him so seriously, so hardly and wholly that for a second Sirius thinks he isn't as drunk as Sirius supposed, but he realised he's wrong as soon as he notices how Moony starts bending to one side. When he starts laughing, Sirius laughs with him, because drunk Remus Lupin is one of the most hilarious things he's ever seen and it's not like he has seen just a few. (Snape's underwear, for example).  
  
“Bedtime, don't you think?” Sirius whispers. It's not really a question, and he's not even waiting for an answer. He holds Remus by his shoulders with an arm and he makes Remus stand on his feet. When he stands straight, Remus Lupin seems to be melting, but Sirius, noticing how all the weight in Moony’s body seems to be pulling them down, holds him tighter than he'd liked and walks out of the Three Broomsticks to get both of them through Hogsmeade among the snow and the winter night coldness.

They don't walk more than a dozen steps and Remus already has his nose red and has fallen at least twice on the snow. When he stands up the second time, he does it with both his hands on the white surface of the ground, and he ends up with his gloves soaking wet and his hair stuck to his forehead. He's shaking a little bit, and keeps repeating he's not cold a ridiculous amount of times, until Sirius loses his patience and takes off his own Gryffindor scarf to put it around Remus’ neck.

Remus protests just a little because “you should take my clothes off, not put them on!” and Sirius thinks that's the funniest thing Remus has ever told him, just because it's not something Remus would say, and he hopes (he really hopes) Remus will remember saying that when he wakes up next morning. Sirius believes he could take the piss at it for at least a week.

“So you want me to takes your clothes off, eh?”

“Not here!” replies Remus matter-of-factly. He is so mad it's ridiculous. He frowns, he crosses his arms and Sirius doesn't understand what did he do, and he can't help it but laugh, at least until he notices Moony is truly mad and he's planning to go back to Hogwarts alone, falling every two steps, and Sirius has to run to be by his side cause he simply can't allow it. Not only because in that state Lupin could end up sleeping in Dumbledore’s bed before finding Gryffindor’s common room, but also because it's what Remus has done for him a million times before. Like that time he and Prongs had an argument because James was sure Liverman was the best Seeker in Quidditch history, when everybody knows perfectly well that is not true, and Remus spent the night sat down at his side under Honeyduckes’ windows, trying to convince Sirius they should go back to the common room to sleep a few hours. That's exactly what Remus does: he always brings Sirius back home. And now Sirius has to pay him back and that's why he follows Remus, almost running, until he can make him stop by holding Remus’ shoulder.  
  
“Who do you think you're talking to, mate? Nobody ignores Sirius Black. Ever”   
  
Remus rolls his eyes and he’s about to leave Sirius behind again when Sirius stops him. He holds Remus’ shoulders tighter and kisses him because he can and because he likes to see Moody mad from time to time. Remus opens his mouth as someone would open a door and everything gets vertiginous and intense then, until they fall on the snow as soon as Remus starts bending to one side again. He laughs. Under Sirius’ body Remus laughs and trembles and keeps laughing, as if he could melt it all just like that, with the strength of that sound. Sirius lets him because he's hoping Grimmauld Place will end up becoming a dystopia in a remote corner of his head.   
  
After a few minutes, he has to get Remus back on his feet, because he's getting his back and his trousers wet and he knows Remus could forgive him someday for letting him get that drunk, but he would never forgive Sirius if he woke up in the infirmary. So Sirius gets Remus up and he doesn't let Remus fall again until they get to the bathroom in their room.

James and Peter will be furious when they find out they missed the beers. But if Sirius Black is thinking of anything at that right moment, it has nothing to do with his roommates.  
  
Under his hands, Remus is a small ball of spasms and melted ice covering his hair and falling slowly through his neck. When Sirius manages to take Remus’ clothes off, he has to make a massive effort to remember he can't do anything but make sure they both end the night in their own bed, apart from each other.

He tries, though. He even opted for letting Remus keep his trousers on and put him straight under the shower, but somehow everything goes to hell when Lupin holds Sirius and brings him closer to his cold body with both his hands and Sirius feels how his shoes and his socks get wet by the warm water of the shower, he feels his trousers sticking to his body, and he feels Remus is doing with the distance between them the same thing he does with Grimmauld Place when he laughs. Exactly the same. And Sirius lets him, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> You got all the way here! That's awesome.
> 
> I hope you liked it and if you did, I hope you let me know in the comments. Don't be shy, I don't bite (promise) and it would totally make my day.


End file.
